Author's Note: Hey guys, I'm the bearer of bad news. My school examinations are just around the corner so I probably won't get to see you guys soon. Despite all that, I will try to finish the story. Please give me some comments about the second version of this story and the new one I was talking about at the previous chapter! Please review!
Chapter 15:
As the small group parted into two different ways.
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"So how did it go?"
"Huh, what are you talking about?"
"Don't act dumb with me, fill me in with the details!"
"I don't know what are you talking about."
"Train!"
They were still walking towards their so-called-home.
"There's none of your business."
Rin just stared at him, slowly a smirk started to form. Train noticing her smirk, blushed horribly red, he knew where this conversation heading to and he didn't wanted to go to that point yet. He turned towards her with a louder voice,
"What's with the smirk?"
"Train, don't think I didn't noticed, you're blushing! How cute and adorable!"
"I'm not blushing; you just getting blind so be quiet will you?"
"Not until you fill me in with the details!"
"We just talk, okay! Happy now?"
Rin just gave him a disappointed look.
"Huh, you mean nothing special? How boring…"
Train stared at her with a skeptical look on his features.
"Sorry to disappoint you Rin, but what were you expecting?"
"Oh I don't know but something more exciting I guess."
"Dream on. What about you? By the way you are asking, you guys must have enjoyed yourselves, for example, kissing?"
"Train!"
The tables have turned not it was Train's turn to smirk and Rin to blush.
"So you did kiss after all, huh? I got to admit things pretty heat up with both of you."
"Train, don't get the wrong idea!"
"Well, who was the one who got the wrong idea at teh first place huh?"
With a sigh, Rin could only answered back in a defeated tone,
"I knew I should not pick an argument with you, I thought I could win this one!"
"I knew from the very beginning that you will lose this argument, Rin."
"Train, that's not fair, you win at every argument! Give me a chance!"
Train could only smirk at her smugly.
"That's why I'm your senior. I win at every argument, JUNIOR."
Train answered matter-of-factly and walked off, leaving a displeased Rin behind. She could only mutter,
"Just because you have a rank above me, doesn't me you always win me at arguments, Senior. Watch out, I get you back some day…"
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"I hate you brother, I really do."
"Eve, I'm hurt. I thought you would be grateful to me!"
"Hah, you wish. Thta would have been the last thing I felt."
"But admit Eve, you are grateful that the opportunity is there."
"I guess so. But is still unfair, you know."
"I must say is pretty unfair but it couldn't be help, you wouldn't go if I told you the real purpose, would you Eve?"
"I guess not."
"See? Even you admit it!"
"Fine, you win brother! Happy now?"
"Absolutely!"
"Oh yeah, that reminds me Jenos…I'm kind of curious about Train himself."
"Oh? Did he say anything strange?"
"No, he just talks a bit about his past."
"Isn't that good? He's finally opening up to you."
"It is good but his past is quite strange."
"What did he say, Eve?"
"He said he could only remember just a part only, he can't remember everything. His past is like a stranger to himself. His past is in pieces, not properly organized, like a jigsaw puzzle."
"You mean his lost part of his memories?"
"Yeah, Jenos."
"Well, that's pretty odd."
"One more thing I'm concerned about Jenos, is his weapon, Hades."
"Ah, his gun. I did want to talk to you about it. Hades, is that its name? It's a pretty good name."
"Yes, that what's I thought to. Anyway, Jenos, roman numbers represent our family right?"
"Yes. Let me guess, a roman number was carved onto his gun?"
Eve looked at him in surprise. With a smile, Jenos just waved it off,
"I heard it from Rin. She saw my number on 'Expellion' and I told her about it, the next thing I know, she was there shouting that Train also having one."
"You mean Rin know you being a 'Chronos'? Are you sure is safe to let her know about it?"
"Yeah, so long Sephira doesn't know about it, everything will be fine. Beside I would have told her anyway, it wouldn't be good if we hide stuffs form them if we just apologized right?"
"You got a point."
"So what's Train number?"
"Huh? Number, I don't really know because I'm not allowed to, remember? Only members of 'Chronos' know them."
"Oh yeah but perhaps you can draw it out? I want to know what number are we missing from 'Chronos'.
"Yeah I can do that."
Holding a thin stick, Eve drew it out on the ground. She frowned as she faintly tried to remember the roman number. A few seconds later, Eve threw the stick away and back off to let Jenos figured out the rest. She sat on a large rock, as Jenos inspected Eve's drawing. They stay there for full five minutes with silence, Jenos was in deep thinking and Eve didn't want to break his concentration. Suddenly, he got up with a frown.
"Eve, are you sure you drew it correctly?"
"Yeah, I'm quite sure with it. Why do you ask?"
"Because I don't recall a number thirteen roman number in 'Chronos'…we only have members up till the twelve numbers."
"Oh, but that's how the number looks like."
"Uh-huh. Perhaps Sephira might know about it, did he have one on his body?"
"Yeah, below the left collar bone. I can't believe I didn't notice this earlier, it was so visible."
"I see. Wait a minute Eve, how come you spotted it?"
Eve blushed slightly.
"Umm, I asked him."
"You what…! You mean you ask him directly or indirectly!"
"…Directly."
"God Eve, Train must have thought you wanted to rape him or something!"
"That's not true! He was perfectly calm and collected!"
"Yeah right."
""Oh yeah what about you and Rin! You never tell me about that Jenos!"
At that point, Jenos began to dream away, his voice grow softer and was completely drooling. Eve just shrugged and pulled her brother by his coat.
"Bet you kiss her or something."
"Oh yeah, her lips were wonderful……………………………………"
"Men! Go figure!"
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In the early morning……
"Your highness! Please wake up!"
A maid tried and failed to wake Jenos up. Jenos however, grumble and rolled over. The maid didn't know what to do; really waking up the royal family was really a hard thing to do. The situation gets worse if the royal family got up at the wrong side of the bed, it would be punishment for the maids. It would had been better if the royal family woke each other up themselves. The maid got worried as she didn't know what to do, but she was saved from her troubles as Eve walked in gracefully and frowned as her brother was still asleep. She smiled kindly to the maid who thanked her gratefully. Eve knew how troubled the maid was as Jenos was a deep sleeper. However to wake up Jenos was an easy task for Eve. She walked towards the other side of the bed and winked at the maid who stood there wondering what the princess was going to do. Eve just whispered lightly,
"Jenos, Rin is there waiting for you."
Hearing Rin's name, Jenos' eyes snapped open immediately and hastily got up, looking for Rin.
"Where?"
"Hm? You mean Rin, most likely at home still asleep, considering at this time."
"Wait a minute; you just said she was here...?"
The maid started giggling, unable to control herself, as Eve just went to his wardrobe to get Jenos' clothes. Jenos finally got the idea.
"Eve, you lied to me!"
"Well, I did manage to woke you up, didn't I?"
"That's cheating Eve; hey what are you doing in my wardrobe?"
"Oh, in case you didn't know, Father and Mother summoned us down. So in order for them not to wait, I'm picking your clothes out for you and I suggest you go and cleaned yourse-"
"What! Father and Mother summoned us! Why didn't you tell me earlier!"
Jenos soon rushed into the bathroom.
The maid went of giggling to get Jenos' breakfast.
Within ten minutes, Jenos was ready.
"Hey Eve, do you think they will get impatient with us?"
"I doubt so."
"Why are you so calm?"
"What's the time?"
"What…?"
"I said what's the time?"
"Fifteen minutes till nine."
"Well, that settles it. You can do whatever you want for ten minutes."
"What…? I thought they summoned us………………wait a minute Eve don't tell me you woke me up early just to get back at me?"
Eve just got up and walked towards the door, ready to leave before answering Jenos' question with a smirk.
"Smart Jenos."
With that, she left with Jenos banging his head against the wall.
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"Jenos, Eve, good morning! Have you slept well?"
"Yes, Father."
Sven, Tearju, Sephira, Belze, Jenos and Eve were currently in the hall. Sven just smiled at them.
"Well, let's not waste time with unnecessary formal greetings and get to the point, shall we?"
Both of them nodded.
"Sephira had woken me in the wee hours in the morning today."
Jenos and Eve glanced as Sephira started blushing. Sven just nodded gently.
"She found some unexpected discovery concerning of your friend. Train Heartnet, I believe that is his name."
Jenos and Eve, surprised at the mention of Train's name, nodded dumbfounded.
"Perhaps you do not know but Heartnet, this family, was once a branch of our family."
"…What?"
Jenos and Eve didn't expect this information, though they were pretty suspicious about it. However, Eve didn't get one point.
"Was? Father?"
"Yes, was. Apparently, in our records, the family was killed."
"Killed!"
Eve and Jenos didn't know what to say.
Tearju just nodded sadly.
"Sad, isn't it? They contributed a lot to our family. Peace, strategies to win wars and strength were what they always provided us with. Each member was a great leader with many talents. Being knights to our family, they were also in 'Chronos'. Once the member passed away, the successor will get the place and inherited the number '13', including girls of course. They didn't care much about their gender as they were loyal to our family."
Sven just gave her a warm smile.
"Like what the queen had said earlier, the Heartnet family contributed plenty to us. However, something terrible happened thirteen years ago. The last member was getting old and he taught as much as he could to his five- year-old son. Talented, he learned and soon surpasses his father at the age of six. Unfornately, his parents were killed and their house was burned down. Investigations were carried out but in the end the culprit was not caught. The strange thing was the boy's body was never found and so was Hades, the gun which the boy's father owned and was going to pass on to his beloved son. We presumed that at the father's dying breath, he gave the gun to his son, urging him to be brave through his life. Assuming he's alive, we searched the boy everywhere we could think of, wanting to give him comfort and a place where he can call 'Home' again. But we never did, there were no news about him either. The thing I want to say is the boy might be Train."
Jenos and Eve couldn't believe what their father had said. It was such a terrible burden for the young innocent boy.
"Father?"
"Yes Eve?"
"But Train told me a different story."
"Really? Perhaps if you share it with us, the story might make more sense."
"Well, Train did say that he learn how to wield a gun at the age of six and told me that children of his family were supposed to already have their weapon at the age of twelve. Thinking that he learned it at six, I asked why did he learn it at such an early stage. His answer was that his parents hated him and wanted him to be killed in the wars he was going to participate as soon as possible."
Sven looked at Eve, confused.
"That's very strange. His parents were kind people; they taught Train at that age because Train was so fascinated by his father's kills and beg him to teach him."
"Really? Oh yes, one more thing father. Train lost part of his memories and only remember a little."
"Oh, you mean like a jigsaw puzzle?"
"Yes father. Like a jigsaw puzzle."
Eve's audience gave each other confusing looks.
"I forgot to mention, Train also have the 'Chronos' symbol below his left collar bone."
"He has the 'Chronos' symbol?"
"Yes, I saw it myself."
Sephira hearing it, quickly pulled the records out and scan it. Not long, she smiled and read out loudly.
"Accordin to his late father's diary, the boy who inherited the gun from him also bared the 'Chronos' symbol, 13 which is famous among the country for it symbolizes misfortune. That's about it."
Sven just stood up and glanced through at the window.
"That settles it. The boy must be Train. This is a good chance to unite the last member of the Heartnet family with ours and the long missed final 'Chronos' member."
"Does your majesty plans to request his stay with us?"
Belze had suddenly spoken surprising everyone.
"I won't force him but I will be grateful if he does."
Jenos shrugged slightly.
"I don't think so because he is a bandit and I do understand that bandits enjoy freedom and not royalties behaviours."
"That's what I'm afraid of Jenos. Speaking of which, do you still remember about the party I told you?"
"Yes, what about it Father?"
"Obviously, you two must be there."
"That we know, of course."
"I would also like to invite the two bandits."
"The two? You mean Train and Rin?"
"Yes. They can bring friends with them if they want to."
"I see but are you sure you are okay with that, Father?"
"Of course Eve, they are your friends what harm can they be? Beside, you won't if they aren't there, won't you? And I look forward in having a conversation with Train myself."
Eve could only smile.
"Father, my humble thanks to you."
"Not at all. Now you should retreat to your rooms for now, I'm sure this meeting was pretty tiring for both of you."
"By your leave, Father and Mother."
"Please don't forget that the party is on the day after tomorrow."
"We won't."
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Jenos and Eve both stood outside the hall.
"Well, that's was pretty impressive. About Train and his past, I mean. Don't you think so Eve?"
"Yes, it seems so. But Train said a different thing, I wonder does he really know about his past?"
"Who knows? Only time will tell."
"I guess so."
Eve juts shrugged and went off to her room with Jenos following.
"So are you pretty excited about the party, Jenos?"
"At first no, but since Train and Rin are coming, well it should be interesting."
"Interesting? What are you trying to say Jenos?"
"Don't you think it will be fun then to see the bandits trying to interact with the royalties?"
"I guess you could say that. But do you think that they will really go?"
"Oh yeah, I didn't think of that."
"Some persuading would help Rin but is Train I worried about."
Jenos smirked.
"No problems. If Rin is going then Train have to follow, he is Rin's senior remember?"
"I guess so but I don't really want to force anyone to come, Jenos."
"Nothing to worry about. You only have to worry that they won't be having missions on that day."
"Oh right."
"Hey Eve, wouldn't it be weird now that we know Train is one of us and yet he doesn't know about it?"
Eve gave him a small smile.
"Oh, you will get used to it."
-End-of-Chapter-
